When former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill coined the phrase “all politics is local,” he knew that successful politicians addressed the everyday “kitchen-table” concerns of voters. Health care policy changes at the national and state levels have dramatically changed how Americans get insurance coverage and how health care is financed and delivered across the […]

With the current tax-filing season upon us now and the need for people to learn about reporting their compliance with the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) individual mandate, it is good to see what foundations are doing to educate people about the law, or what some call Obamacare, in general. Here are a few examples of […]

On January 22, the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter titled “Hidden Formaldehyde in E-Cigarette Aerosols.” It reports on a chemical analysis of vapor from e-cigarettes “that shows high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen,” the journal says on its website. “The authors project that the associated incremental lifetime risk of cancer could […]

As the fight against Ebola continues in West Africa, foundations and others are stepping up to provide support. There are too many for GrantWatch Blog to provide a comprehensive list, but here are a few examples. In an August 25 press release, the CDC Foundation, in Atlanta, announced a $1 million grant to its Global […]

A few short months after I took the helm as The California Wellness Foundation’s president and CEO, the results of our eighth annual Cal Wellness/Field Health Policy Survey were released. I dug into the results to get a view of what Californians are thinking and feeling about the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) implementation in our […]

In 2012, 9.6 million adults in the United States had lived with a serious mental illness in the past year. Also, 20 percent of adults over age fifty have depression, and about 11 percent suffer from anxiety disorders. And what about the people who care for an aging population? What challenges do family caregivers face […]

The September 2014 issue of Health Affairs contains a peer-reviewed GrantWatch article about the Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP), which is sponsored by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and Interact for Health (formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati). In “For Two Regional Health Foundations, Returns from the Kentucky Health Issues Poll Are Worth […]

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), through its supporting organization the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), has been working at the Triple Aim (better health, better health care, and lower cost) for seventeen years. We have tried introducing Lean in hospitals, promoting patient-centered medical homes, advocating for public reporting on the quality and cost of care, […]

While almost 80 percent of Maine physicians surveyed agreed that the current fee-for-service system should be restructured to align payment with optimal clinical care, only 50 percent indicated they are preparing for payment reform measures, such as accountable care organizations. This was just one result of a survey of physicians on payment reform. The Maine […]

The first open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) ended with larger than anticipated enrollment in qualified private health plans and Medicaid. The strong showing occurred despite early and, in many cases, persistent problems with the stability, load capacity, and performance of online state-based Marketplaces and HealthCare.gov, the federal website used by states […]

If you have been following recent news reports, you’ve heard about the allegations that veterans have not been getting the health care that they need. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, not wanting to be a distraction, resigned on May 30, according to a statement by President Obama. Sloan D. Gibson is now acting secretary. […]

Foundations, government, and the health care sector are making large investments to reengineer and revitalize primary care, hoping this will improve the cost and quality of health care overall. Primary care practices that use expanded teams to deliver well-coordinated care designed around the needs of patients and families—widely known as patient-centered medical homes—have become the […]

Have you ever filled out a questionnaire at the doctor’s office that asks if you’re a smoker, how many drinks you have per week, or if there’s a history of high cholesterol in your family? Chances are good that you have. What you may not have seen is a question that asks if you feel […]

March 31 marked the official end of the first open-enrollment period for health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At national and state levels, there will be judgments about the successes and failures, and hopefully, some reaping of lessons learned for the next go-round, which starts in November. Many organizations such as mine, […]

Low-income patients are often the most difficult to reach, given access issues, language barriers, and lack of resources. But despite the challenges, these patients are willing and eager to engage more with their providers and avail themselves of new health care delivery models and technologies to do so, according to new research released October 23. […]

This post’s headline is just one result from The 2013 California Wellness Foundation-Field Health Policy Poll, a statewide poll of California registered voters released in three reports over three days in August. This is the seventh year that the foundation has been funding the survey, which has included questions on key health policy issues. Since […]

This was the title of a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation webinar (first in a series) held on August 28. I decided I could surely learn something new about the Affordable Care Act and also could refresh my knowledge by listening to the webinar—after all, it was aimed at journalists! Following are a few tidbits […]

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has released another YouToons animated video, as it did back in 2010. This time, the Kaiser Family Foundation aims to help Americans understand the changes coming their way next year under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when certain of its provisions kick in. Called “The YouToons Get Ready for […]

Foundations and others have come together to cofund a project up in the Last Frontier state. “A large portion of foundation, public and nonprofit assets [in Alaska] are dedicated to alleviating suffering caused by alcohol abuse,” according to a July 17 press release. This realization led to a new project from a statewide collaboration of […]

The author is president and CEO of The SCAN Foundation, located in Long Beach, California. This post originally appeared on GrantWatch Blog’s sister blog, Health Affairs Blog, on June 12. It is no secret that Americans are aging, but what is too often lost in this fact is that most people will need help as […]